Summer has gone especially fast for the Cedar Springs FFA this summer. It all began when the High school FFA officer team had the chance to attend the State Leadership Conference for Chapter Officers (SLCCO) in Lansing on July 9 and 10. The eight members of the officer team attending include Dylan McConnon, Olivia Martinek, Chloe Boomgaard, Carly Dunham, Angel Shears, Trevor Marsman, Jared Smith,and Mr.Reyburn. These students had the opportunity while at the conference to attend three different sessions that were themed with different points of leadership: how to set goals, how to work as a team to achieve goals, and communication skills that will help the officers step up to the plate and become the best leaders possible.

Just days after returning from SLCCO, a group of FFA members returned to the MSU campus. The group included Alyssa Marshall, Dylan McConnon, Alyssa Roelofs, Axel Anderson and Trevor Marsman, and coaches Brent Willett and Cade Hall. They had the chance to participate in a Livestock Judging competition on July 12. They spent many countless hours practicing and going to fairs to practice judging livestock being shown by other people. The team put all they had into the competition and placed 11 out of 27 different teams. Great job team!

The land lab work began with Wayne and Trevor Marsman planting the corn in the field by the high school and Dylan McConnon spreading the fertilizer on the field. Dave Dunaven and Steve Smitz helped the FFA by tilling and planting the soybeans and making sure that everything was set in order to have a great crop this season. Jerad Smith and Dylan McConnon applied herbicides to both of the fields. Along with this great group of people we had Jake Gebhardt, who helped both groups of people to prepare the field for planting.

Dylan McConnon and Tyler Schoen represented the FFA and Cedar Springs well in the state tractor driving contest. Dylan finished in first place,and Tyler followed behind in fifth place. Many of the chapters members participated in the showing of live stock at the Kent County Youth Fair while other officers worked a booth selling meat sticks, maple syrup, and work gloves along with running the Agricultural Adventure barn to help younger kids learn about the many areas of agriculture. The barn was not only run by the Cedar Springs chapter but the Lowell and Caledonia chapters as well. All student entering the High school and returning high schoolers keep a lookout for the FFA at orientation with some games for everyone to enjoy.

Cedar Springs FFA officers worked on their leadership skills at The Shack on April 24-25. Courtesy photo.

From the Cedar Springs FFA

The 2017-2018 school year is coming to a close and our new officers are taking a large step towards leadership. On April 24 and 25, the newly elected officers went to The Shack in White Cloud to learn how to become better leaders of the Cedar Spring FFA Chapter: President Dylan McConnon, Vice President Olivia Martinek, Secretary Carly Dunham, Treasurer Angle Shears, Reporter Chloe Boomgaard, Sentinel Trevor Marsman, and Advisor Mr. Reyburn.

Cedar Springs FFA entered a team of three students in the forestry competitionand they took 3rd in the state—Dylan McConnon, Logan Guerrero, and Trevor Marsman. Courtesy photo.

These six students spent the day learning and communicating with a large group of students from the other chapters in Region 5 and working on many different skills that needed to be perfected. Each student went to three different break-out sessions. Some of them were ways to become a better public speaker, learning how to create the chapter scrapbook, setting up a meeting room, how to keep a track of the amount of money leaving the chapter, time management, and fundraising ideas. As the officers mingled with the other chapter officers they got to hear about the many different things that take place in the surrounding chapters. Many of these leadership skills are the skills that are going to help all of these students not only be leaders of the FFA but are going to help them when it comes their futures.

Along with these students they had 8 students who participated in the spring skills contests this year. These students spent many hours after school practicing, learning, and perfecting these skills. The FFA had a team compete in the forestry contest. The team consisted of three students: Dylan McConnon,Logan Guerrero, and Trevor Marsman. There were 47 teams that participated in the forestry contest. These boys placed 3rd in the state they were only 14 points behind the team that took first place. Congratulations Dylan, Logan, and Trevor!

They also had a team compete in veterinary science. The four girls on this team were Alyssa Marshall, Cecelia Brandt, Emily Nowak, and Taryn Troupe. Out of 136 teams from around the state they received 45th place.Congratulations girls, you all did great. Evan Young participated in the Ag. Mechanics contest. Each of these students put their best effort into these contests to receive the scores they did and they all did a great job. Congratulations to all of the students that participated in these activities.

Maple sap is running and you might find Maple trees being tapped in various places in the area. This photo was taken of trees in Nelson Township, near 18 Mile and Tisdel. Photo by L. Allen.

From the Cedar Springs FFA

This year the beginning of March not only marks the beginning of spring, but also marks the beginning of sap season. Every year the FFA taps nearly 200 maple trees behind the middle school. This can be a rigorous project, but has resulted in less work this year due to the switch from 5 gallon buckets to 5 gallon bags. The FFA decided to try out the bags so they did not have to sanitize and wash the buckets every year prior to and following sap season. With the bags, you just have to put them together, then take them apart and throw them away when it’s done flowing.

Under the supervision of Bill Brandt, many of Mr. Reyburn’s ambitious students took to the woods. They brought along a drill, the correct size drill bit, taps, and bags that were assembled in Ag class. In order to apply the tap—about a foot and a half to two feet from the ground—a small hole is drilled. This is a tedious job because the hole can neither be too shallow, nor to deep. After the hole is drilled, a tap with 8-12 inches of hose attached to it is pushed into the hole. This year, the tap is put through the hole on the collection-bags-bracket first, and then into the pre-drilled-tree hole. This is so that the bags do not fall to the ground. This drilling and bag hanging process is repeated on all of the trees.

Once the taps are in, it’s waiting time.

Prime flowing weather is when the sun is shining and it’s a little above freezing during the day and then gets colder at night. The bags are emptied as needed, anywhere from everyday to not for a whole week. Dumping normally takes place after school so more people can be involved. To dump the bags, you simply remove the tap from the tree, dump the sap into a bucket, hang the bag back up, then take the bucket to dump into the tub on the trailer.

Without the dedication and commitment of Cedar Springs FFA Alumni member Rick Sevey, the FFA would not have syrup. After dumping the sap, Chairperson Evan Young hauls it to Rick’s farm. Here, the sap is dumped into a 400 gallon bulk tank to store until boiling time. The sugar content is measured at this time as well. So far this year, all but one load has had a 3 percent content, which is extremely good (the other was 2.75 percent). The average sugar content is about 2 percent. At that average number, it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup. But, a higher sugar content allows for the ratio to drop closer to 35:1, possibly even 30:1.

The boiled down sap is bottled into pint jars for the FFA to sell. The FFA also gets a few gallon jugs to auction at their annual banquet. So far this year, the FFA has collected 1300-plus gallons of sap meaning it will yield over 30 gallons of syrup.

Nothing is more delicious than a stack of flapjacks with homemade maple syrup! Although tapping, collecting, and boiling is an enduring process, the outcome is worth it: fresh syrup, and spring weather!

The FFA will be selling the remainder of their 2017 syrup at Cedar Springs Community Night on April 19, so come on out and grab a pint and support the Cedar Springs FFA!